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Performance Management Case Study: Fossil Group

Jocelyn Stange
February 4, 2021 | 2 minute read

In this blog, we'll share how Fossil Group evolved its performance management process and 3 simple steps.

The Evolution of Fossil's Performance Management Process
Fossil Group was using a complex, 100% paper process for performance reviews and check-ins for more than 15,000 global employees. They wanted to move toward a digital performance management strategy, but knew they needed to simplify the process first.
Fossil Group set up four traditional components that were stretched across three strategic touch points throughout the year. These touch points were supplemented with ongoing performance conversations that could be initiated by any employee, at any time.

As Fossil Group evolved its company-wide performance appro a ch , they were happy to see immediate progress.
92% of employees were participating in goal-setting reviews, setting an average of six goals per employee.
However, when they dug into the data, they found that 35% of individual goals created were misaligned or did not have an impact on the organization and its strategic priorities. They knew they needed to get better at goal alignment if they wanted to meet important business objectives.
Explore the three ways Fossil Group simplified performance management.
1. They scheduled ongoing performance conversations and continuous feedback.
Although the three formal performance touch points in place were working, Fossil Group knew teams needed to have goal conversations more frequently. They implemented informal “check-ins” that could be launched by any employee at any time.
To ensure adequate time was made for important performance conversations and other performance related activities, Fossil Group implemented "Performance Days" — days strictly dedicated to employee performance. On these days, n o task-related meetings are scheduled, and all work is set aside for the day. Conversations between managers, employees, and teams are all centered on performance.
2. They created intuitive goal conversation templates.
Fossil Group recognized that simply having more performance conversations wasn’t enough — the conversations needed to include healthy dialogue, debate, and collaboration from managers and employees. They created 1-on-1 templates to help guide managers and employees through an effective and productive goal conversation.
Check-in templates could be customized to the needs and work of individual teams and team members. The templates helped ensure conversations were focused on creating clear, aligned, and motivating goals.
3. They used recognition to keep performance conversations fresh.
Fossil Group wanted to bring performance conversations full circle by recognizing employee performance daily. They created recognition toolkits for managers including fun notecards, gift cards, and employee recognition tips. They also launched an online, peer-to-peer recognition program that generated an average of 140 recognition stories each week.
By taking time to uncover the needs of its employees, and delegating time for managers to focus on perf ormance, Fossil Group was able to listen and act on employee voices and evolve their performance strategy f or succes s .
Download our latest ebook: Making Time for Performance Management to get more tips for simplifying your performance management process.

Published February 4, 2021 | Written By Jocelyn Stange
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Performance Management Case Studies: Revolutionaries and Trail Blazers

Five companies that have led the way in setting new performance management trends
Note: This blog post was updated in July 2019 for accuracy.
Performance management is an ever-evolving field. The more we learn, the better we can adapt our performance management systems to make our companies healthier, more motivational places to work. This is why it is so important to keep up with the latest performance management trends . Companies who fall behind lose out to their competitors. They also run the risk of losing their best performers along the way.
Since 2012 , companies all over the world have been moving away from old-fashioned annual appraisals and towards continuous performance management . More than ever before, human resources executives and line managers alike understand the human need for regular feedback, effective coaching and human interaction.
A number of revolutionary companies have led the way in dramatic changes to how organisations — both Fortune 500 multinationals and SMEs — conduct their performance reviews and motivate their employees. In their wake, companies the world over are adapting their performance management practices and readjusting their once-firmly held beliefs regarding performance ratings and annual performance appraisals. Here at Clear Review, we have helped over 200 organisations effortlessly shift away from traditional annual appraisals.
Below, we have collated five notable performance management case studies. These organisations have shaken up their existing processes and have reaped significant benefits in terms of productivity, employee engagement, morale and performance.
1 . Adobe Introduced Continuous performance Management in Place of Performance Appraisals
Adobe was the forerunner of change when they abandoned annual performance appraisals back in 2012 . They felt that while they were forging ahead and evolving as a company, their performance management system was archaic and ineffective. It was a waste of time and had, ultimately become a box-ticking exercise. Adobe estimated annual appraisals consumed 80 , 000 management hours each year . This was the equivalent of nearly forty full-time employees working year-round. Clearly, a change was needed.
Adobe replaced annual appraisals with regular one-on-one check-ins , supported by frequent feedback — both positive and constructive. There are no performance ratings or rankings and they allow different parts of the organisation to determine how frequently they should hold check-in conversations, based on their work cycles. Now that forced ranking has been abolished, employees at Adobe are assessed based on how well they meet their goals . Managers are also trained on the nuances of giving and receiving feedback.
The result has been a marked increase in employee engagement, with voluntary turnover decreasing by 30 % since check-ins were introduced. This makes Adobe a performance management case study we should all be aware of.
Take a Tour of Our Continuous Performance Management Software .
2 . Deloitte Saved 2 Million Working Hours per Year with Weekly Employee Check-Ins
In 2015 , Deloitte was the first big name to announce it was scrapping once-a-year performance reviews, 360 -degree feedback and objective cascading. This change occurred after the company calculated these processes were consuming a remarkable two million hours a year across the organisation.
Deloitte’s new performance management process requires every team leader to check in with each team member once a week to discuss near-term SMART goals and priorities, comment on recent work and provide coaching. The check-ins are initiated by the team members, rather than the team leaders to ensure these check-ins take place frequently. This also serves to give employees a sense of ownership over their work, role and time.
These weekly employee check-ins are supported by quarterly reviews when team leaders are asked to respond to four future-focused statements about each team member. Rather than asking team leaders what they think of the team member — which is what traditional performance ratings do — they ask what the team leader would do with the team member.
3 . General Electric ( GE ) Put an End toForced Ranking performance Management
Under the reign of its former CEO , Jack Welsh, General Electric was the most well-known proponent of annual performance ratings and forced distribution curves.
For decades, GE operated a “ rank and yank ” system, whereby employees were appraised and rated once a year. Afterwards, the bottom 10 % were fired. Not exactly a recipe for employee engagement! Such an environment is a breeding ground for unhealthy competition, reduced teamwork and employee burnout.
In 2015 , under CEO Jeff Immelt, GE announced it was replacing this approach with frequent feedback and regular conversations called” touchpoints ” to review progress against agreed near-term goals. This new approach was supported by an online and mobile app, similar to our own Clear Review performance management tool , which enables employees to capture progress against their goals, give their peers feedback and also request feedback.
Managers will still have an annual summary with employees, looking back at the year and setting goals. But this conversation is more about standing back and discussing achievements and learnings, and much less fraught than annual reviews.
4 . Accenture Abandoned Ratings for performance Development
As of September 2015 , Accenture, one of the largest companies in the world, disbanded its former ranking and once-a-year evaluation process . Like GE , Accenture has decided to put frequent feedback and conversations at the heart of its new process and focus on performance development, rather than performance rating.
As Accenture’s CEO , Pierre Nanterme, stated at the time “ It’s huge, we’re going to get rid of probably 90 per cent of what we did in the past.”
As Ellyn Shook, Chief HR Officer at Accenture , stated:“Rather than taking a retrospective view, our people will engage in future-focused conversations about their aspirations, leading to actions to help them grow and progress their careers.”
5 . Cargill Introduced Coaching Conversations in Place of Annual Appraisals
Like Adobe, Cargill, the US food producer and distributor, started to transform its traditional performance management processes back in 2012 , when it introduced “ Everyday Performance Management ”.
Cargill removed performance ratings and annual review forms and instead focused on managers having frequent, on-the-job conversations and giving regular, constructive feedback. They have made this work by:
- Regularly rewarding and recognising managers who demonstrate good day-to-day performance management practices.
- Sharing the experiences and tips of their successful managers.
- Holding teams accountable for practising day-to-day performance management.
- Building the skills needed to succeed at Everyday Performance Management, including effective two-way communication, giving feedback, and coaching.
The outcome has been impressive, with 70 % of Cargill employees now saying they feel valued as a result of their ongoing performance discussions with their manager.
Performance Management Lessons to Be Learned from These Performance Management Case Studies
When we look at what these five organisations have implemented, we can see some evident trends emerging, which are likely to form the basis of performance management for the years to come. These trends are:
- Regular one-to-one performance conversations, or “ check-ins ”, initiated by the employee.
- Frequent, in-the-moment, positive and constructive feedback from peers and managers Near-term objectives rather than annual objectives. Setting and reviewing objectives regularly, rather than once a year.
- Forward-looking performance reviews, focusing more on development and coaching and less on assessment.
- Dropping performance ratings .
- Performance processes supported by mobile-friendly, online performance management software .
Move away from annual appraisals to continuous performance management
Find out how our simple, effective performance management software can help you move away from annual performance appraisals towards a more agile, intuitive performance management system. Book a free demo of Clear Review where our expert team will take you through the platform.

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CASE STUDY | RETAIL
Performance Management Coaching
Embedding a coaching culture at ikea with coaching training.
IKEA embarked on a journey to harness its unique corporate culture and management style to drive business performance. To do this they needed to equip their managers with performance management coaching skills to complement the existing management style and expand the portfolio of management and leadership skills.

“Having been involved in many aspects of training within IKEA at all levels over the past 10 years, the coaching programme facilitated by Performance Consultants was miles ahead of any in-house programme relating to coaching that I have been involved with and the business results speak for themselves.” Phil Rogers, UK Top Talent Development Director, IKEA
As the world’s largest furniture retailer, IKEA is a multinational company developing solutions that influence the lives and future of millions. The IKEA culture and values reflect the entrepreneurial spirit of its founder Ingvar Kamprad and are essential to its global success.
The 8 IKEA key values are togetherness, caring for people and planet, cost-consciousness, simplicity, renew and improve, different with a meaning, give and take responsibility, lead by example.

The Challenge
IKEA wanted to drive business performance by strengthening management and leadership skills.
They were looking to:
- Up-skill and establish a solid management and leadership style
- Improve performance
- Complement the IKEA culture and values
They needed a performance management coaching course that would embed a coaching culture based on IKEA’s values and improve on the previously low take-up and effectiveness of their in-house management and leadership development trainings.
“We believe that every individual has something valuable to offer and we strive to have the same values in the way we work.” IKEA
Performance Consultants designed and delivered an accredited train-the-trainer performance management coaching programme to 750 managers and supervisors in the UK.
This included:
- Interactive foundation seminar: To inspire the team and to share the vision of what could be created by adopting a values-based performance management and leadership approach. This really lit the imagination of the top team and created the optimal momentum and placement for the rest of the project. Simultaneously, IKEA’s training to date and HR material were revized and updated.
- Developing coaching skills: The train the trainer coaching programme included modules from our existing Coaching for Performance training programme which aligned with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) – the industry gold standard for people who want to lead and manage in a coaching style. These modules were customized to suit IKEA’s business and training needs.
- Certification ⎯ internal pool of managers and supervisors accredited to deliver the training.
- Sustaining the learning ⎯ internal coaching champions were identified to keep the training momentum and practical application going.
- After the success of a pilot study for 80 managers and supervisors, we delivered an in-house roll-out to 750 managers in the UK.
“Coaching is the enabler and a coaching culture creates the conditions for high performance.” Sir John Whitmore, coaching pioneer
The Results
All participants passed their assessment (some requiring additional support and training) and became accredited. They are now delivering 2-day Performance Management Coaching courses in branches all over the country and training new in-house trainers.
Departments whose managers attended performance management coaching training:
- Saw a 5% KPI increase (4% is considered significant)
- Went from 60% scores in management ability to 90% scores across the board
- One department went from 3rd worst performer to top performer
As a result of the programme, Performance Consultants have:
- Generated extremely high internal motivation and enthusiasm for the coaching training among participants and their teams
- Received consistently great feedback praising the approach and coaching training delivered
- Collected great stories of how the coaching training has impacted the business, reduced costs and improved creativity
Reflections with Sir John Whitmore
Related Training
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Performance Management and Appraisal: A Case Study of Gap Inc.
The performance management system is a key process in any given organization. Through the process, firms are able to communicate organizational objectives, promote individual accountability, and track and evaluate the performance of employees (Gruman & Saks, 2011; Selden & Sowa, 2011). With the increased changing competitive business environment, organizations require to regularly review the system, with the aim of improving various points to keep up with the market demand and competitors (Moynihan, & Pandey, 2010). Being a competitive firm, Gap Inc. required to review its performance management for a number of reasons. To begin with, both managers and subordinates disliked the cumbersomeness of the existing method. Notably, they did not like the frequent briefing meetings that required them to explain their contributions to the performance of the company. Moreover, management considered the “nice” culture to be a favorite; however, it was not an honest approach to performance appraisal. Resultantly, there was a need to transform the culture from “nice” to “nice and honest.”
“Traditional” Performance Management System
A performance management system is a method used by a corporation to measure the results of the employees. A traditional performance management system is characterizedwith aspects that have attracted many critics, such as its focus on employee weaknesses, reliance on annual reviews, failure to provide timely feedback, setting of goals that do not align with workers’ needs, and its tendency to reward annual performance and the duration of serving the company (Becker, Antuar, & Everett, 2011). Notably, these aspects make the system to rank some employees highly, yet their productivity may not commensurate with the award they receive. For example, a method such as forced ranking inherently requires that only a few employees rank at the top and bottom while concentrating the rest in the middle (Cascio, 2016; DeNisi & Murphy, 2017). Therefore, this method often fails to fairly reward some of the employees, while rewarding others excessively.
Process Adopted in Setting up GPS System
In the creation of a new performance management system, it is crucial to follow certain steps. Ollander-Krane, the employee tasked with the development of the new policy adopted three stages in the development of the new system, including defining performance, facilitating performance, and encouraging performance. In defining performance, he ensured that every employee understands his or her role in the company. To achieve this, he ascertained that there were clear goals, measures, and assessment methods. According to Cascio (2016), goals direct employees to the achievement of the specific performance target. For example, Gap Inc. had goals of increasing the market share. In addition, the company should be able to determine the level of attainment of the set goals. Vague aspects, such as the success of a company are not measurable; hence, they are not useful in the creation of a performance management system. Moreover, once the measurement is determined, it is necessary to assess how progress is made toward accomplishing the set goals. It is essential to have regular performance appraisals to direct the employees toward the achievement goals.
In facilitating performance, the manager ensures that there are no limiting factors towards the achievement of the set goals. For instance, Ollander-Krane established that the current system demotivated the employers. In particular, they focused on their grades after evaluation instead of their actual performance (Margolis, McKinnon, and Norris, 2015). Therefore, setting up a new system would eliminate hindrance. All the steps were facilitatedby researching and reading books. Specifically, the manager read books such as Get Rid of the Performance Review , Coaching with the Brain in Mind , and Mindset . The books had unique lessons which aided Ollander-Kane to set up a new performance management system.
Four Main Components of the New System
The new performance appraisal method Gap Inc. adopted had four components: performance standard, goals, touch base, and rewards. The four approaches form the core-components of Grow, Perform, Succeed (GPS) – the new performance management system.
Performance Standard
The performance standard replaces the annual reviews that characterized the traditional system. Instead of the traditional ratings and rankings, employees would adhere to a set performance standard on a daily basis. Notably, the new system set tough objectives that will motivate employees to work hard to achieve the set targets. In such a way, the company will probably increase its market share owing to its hard work, company values. Furthermore, the standard allows the corporation to learn from its failures whenever employees are unable to meet the set targets (Bolden, 2016). In addition, managers can train their employees to equip them with skills that will aid them to effectively achieve the set targets. Feedback will also be provided to employees; hence, providing a basis on which to improve upon their weaknesses and strengths.
To set goals, the new system ensured that employees settled on few goals that are easy to attain. Goals provide a sense of direction for the employees because it dictates what is to be achieved (Pulakos, Hanson, Arad, & Moye, 2015). The goal setting process will be capped at eight, with some goals having a short time spun while the rest lasting for a few years. The company also encourages the employees to evaluate their targets more than once in a year, as opposed to the rigid year-end reviews that characterized the old system.
GPS intended to change the traditional way of discussing performance amongst employees with “touch base” sessions which focused on their performance instead of informal business discussions of reports. Rather than taking notes in these meetings, Ollander-Krane discouraged managers from taking notes during the session, but to concentrate in the meetings. In this way, he hoped to achieve a well-motivated workforce. Interestingly, employees were given an equal responsibility as their managers to ensure they met regularly. In 2014, a survey by the human resource department found out that there were regular touch base meetings (Margolis et al., 2015). Therefore, the regular meetings resulted in better performance of the company.
Employees in Gap Inc. used to receive awards on a yearly basis in the old system. Currently, employees are given rewards on account of how much they contribute to the output levels. When every employee is awarded individually, they are motivated to improve their performance (Arnaboldi, Lapsley, & Steccolini, 2015). Consequently, personal output amount will result in increases in the general performance of the firm. Annual bonuses given to employees will change to a clear structure that identifies company performance as the most critical reward determiner, accounting for 75% of the total bonus. The remaining 25%will be based on individual performance. In this way, the firm’s employees strive to improve the business results of the company since they account for most of the rewards. Moreover, the company increased its delegation of bonus allocation to the managers (Margolis et al., 2015). Since rewards will not be pegged on the annual evaluations, the organization’s reward system offers incentives to employees, eliminating the need for regular update meetings characterizing the traditional system.
Challenges that Faced Gap Inc. in Implementing GPS
Although the management accepted the proposal of Ollander-Krane, its implementation, as is the case with any change in an organization,was not without challenges. The adoption of GPS as a replacement to the traditional appraisal method began in 2014 and was characterized by a few issues. For example, some managers were not aware of the need for a new management system. In fact, some did not understand the rationale of GPS. Even though the managers disliked the “traditional” method that conducted reviews at the end of the year, it is what they understood. However, this challenge was overcome by educating all the managers about the old and new system, aiding their understanding. It turned out that the new system would create freedom for them to manage their employees. The system would promote the acknowledgment of top and low performers.
In addition, even after understanding the new system, some managers considered GPS as a new method by the management to reduce their ability to earn bonuses. They thought the new method would limit their avenues of obtaining more income(Margolis et al., 2015). Regardless of the attitude of the managers, the system proved to be effective in increasing the market share and company performance. It is common for humans to resist any change due to the uncertainties it presents.
Furthermore, managers faced difficulty in adopting and getting accustomed to the new system. In other words, the new system involved a different approach to giving and receiving feedback, which is vital in notifying employees about their performance levels (Sargeant et al., 2015). In fact, discussions about the year performance were easier in the “traditional” system. The previous system allowed managers to give feedback to employees about specific measures that made their performance to be evaluated at a certain level. Nevertheless, this challenge would be overcome with the right amount of training, time, and effort in using the GPS system.
Another challenge is the fact that the regular touch base meetings posed their unique problems, such as disruptions in the course of the year. As a result, the affected employee misses some meetings. When they resume, it becomes difficult for them to be at par with their colleagues because they might have lost a sense of the future strategic direction of the company or department. In such a way, the implementation of the system is hampered directly by even its components.
Performance Management Systems and the Effectiveness of GPS
Most managers mistakenly use the performance appraisal and performance management interchangeably. Unlike the former which is used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees in the execution of their job description, the latter is a method applied by the human resource department to give direction to subordinates or seniors. In fact, the adoption of GPS as a new performance management system is a move in the right direction. Ollander-Krane reports that in the first year, the new system had achieved some positive changes in the company. For example, some employees stated that their touch base had increased, while others acknowledged that they had not spoken with their superiors for several months before the adoption of GPS. The increased meetings amongst the employees probably increased the working relationship of the subordinates and their superiors (Selvarajan, Singh, & Solansky, 2018; Duncan, & Malini, 2016; Forrester, 2011). Therefore, the new method was impactful to the organization’s performance.
Moreover, the system is linked to the company’s ticker symbol, reminding employees that their performance is evaluated by the share prices of the company. As a result, they will direct their efforts in the growth of the company’s financial performance. The system also enhances objectivity and honesty in the sharing of feedback between managers and employees. Moreover, it provides employees with a sense of direction. For instance, it gives them their current performance level while providing the expected output from their efforts for the future.
If I were to recommend a new performance management system to a company that is still traditional, I would suggest GPS as a better alternative. The new system is easier to implement than other systems. It requires little participation by the management in deciding the amount of bonus to give to employees. Moreover, the method allows managers to determine how to allocate bonuses amongst their employees. Consequently, some business units were able to invent their own incentive scheme that motivated employees to provide overwhelming performance. The method also increased the efficiency of service delivery within the company and reducing the workload for the human resource personnel tasked with performance appraisal (Tziner & Rabenu, 2018; Tziner & Rabenu, 2018). In this way, the time will be used in other equally important tasks.
The new system is also effective because it has reduced the number of customer complaints. In particular, the complaints reduced to one from between 30-40 calls in previous years. Owing to this, it is possible that the system will blend well in other organizations increasing their customer satisfaction. Since customers are contented, the firm is able to retain customers while growing its market share.
In summary, performance management should not be confused with performance appraisal. The former promotes the strengths of employees by providing an avenue to direct their efforts in meeting the company objectives, while the latter is used to measure performance and offer bases for which promotions and firings in an organization are done. It is important for the management to adopt a good management system since it aids in increasing the productivity of employees and the profitability of the firm.
Arnaboldi, M., Lapsley, I., & Steccolini, I. (2015).Performance management in the public sector: The ultimate challenge. Financial Accountability & Management , 31 (1), 1-22.
Becker, K., Antuar, N., & Everett, C. (2011). Implementing an employee performance management system in a nonprofit organization. Nonprofit Management and Leadership , 21 (3), 255-271.
Bolden, R. (2016). Leadership, management and organizational development. In Gower handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158).Routledge.
Cascio, W. F. (2016). Managing human resources: productivity, quality of work life, profits (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
DeNisi, A. S., & Murphy, K. R. (2017).Performance appraisal and performance management: 100 years of progress? Journal of Applied Psychology , 102 (3), 421.
Duncan, M. S., & Malini, N. (2016). Best practices of sales force compensation within small, to medium sized enterprises: The metrics associated with performance appraisal. The Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators , 123 , 120-127.
Forrester, G. (2011). Performance management in education: milestone or millstone?. Management in Education , 25 (1), 5-9.
Gruman, J. A., & Saks, A. M. (2011).Performance management and employee engagement. Human Resource Management Review , 21 (2), 123-136.
Margolis, J., McKinnon, P., and Norris, M. (2015).Gap Inc.: Refashioning Performance Management. Harvard Business School
Moynihan, D. P., & Pandey, S. K. (2010). The big question for performance management: Why do managers use performance information?. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory , 20 (4), 849-866.
Pulakos, E. D., Hanson, R. M., Arad, S., & Moye, N. (2015). Performance management can be fixed: An on-the-job experiential learning approach for complex behavior change. Industrial and Organizational Psychology , 8 (1), 51-76.
Sargeant, J., Lockyer, J., Mann, K., Holmboe, E., Silver, I., Armson, H., …& Power, M. (2015). Facilitated reflective performance feedback: developing an evidence-and theory-based model that builds relationship, explores reactions and content, and coaches for performance change (R2C2). Academic Medicine , 90 (12), 1698-1706.
Selden, S., & Sowa, J. E. (2011).Performance management and appraisal in human service organizations: Management and staff perspectives. Public Personnel Management , 40 (3), 251-264.
Selvarajan, T. T., Singh, B., & Solansky, S. (2018). Performance appraisal fairness, leader member exchange and motivation to improve performance: A study of US and Mexican employees. Journal of Business Research , 85 , 142-154.
Tziner, A., & Rabenu, E. (2018). Ways to improve the performance appraisal system 2: Alternative strategies for assessing and evaluating performance. In Improving Performance Appraisal at Work .Edward Elgar Publishing.
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Case studies: FedEx and HSBC's revamped performance management approaches
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Eric Tan, Managing Director, FedEx Singapore, and Vishesh Dimri, Lead - HR Consulting, HSBC, both place importance on trust, honesty, transparency, and ownership in their approaches, as we find out in these interviews.
Fedex singapore’s new management system drives trust & transparency.

Eric Tan, Managing Director, FedEx Singapore, shares insights into this performance review approach — from its inception, to what it entails, along with what employers could consider in the intended shift to such a model.
Delivery service provider FedEx Singapore (FedEx) is a keen advocate of a culture of continued engagement and transparency at its workplace, one where open communication and trust thrive amongst its over 1,000 employees.
This is done through a series of engagement initiatives such as its ‘Open Door Policy’ and ‘Survey Feedback Action’ (SFA), says Eric Tan, Managing Director, FedEx Singapore (pictured above, left) . “This allows our employees to understand the big picture and the part they play in the success of the organisation. FedEx lives up to our corporate philosophy of ‘people-service-profit’: By taking care of our people, they will provide outstanding service for our customers, which enables business growth, and we reinvest this revenue back into our people. All programmes and policies, at every organisational level, synchronise with this philosophy,” he affirms.
One way the company has been driving this is through a change in its performance management system — from a conventional performance appraisal system that utilised a comparative 10-point rating scale leveraging the bell curve methodology, to an enhanced performance review structure, which focuses on the work that employees accomplish (goals), and how it is accomplished (competencies).
Tan explains: “As a ‘people’ company, FedEx strives to continuously improve its performance management processes to drive individual, team, and organisational performance. To achieve this, we assume a holistic approach towards performance management and the employee experience. With a continuous improvement mindset, FedEx across Asia Pacific proactively anticipates process and technological enhancements so as to enable us to successfully transition into a new performance management process.
"These are all part of our concerted efforts to sustain a workplace culture where our people stand at the centre of our corporate philosophy."
What this enhanced performance review structure entails
According to Tan, this enhanced structure is designed to provide an in-depth understanding of what success looks like for the employee. It adopts an absolute rating scale to evaluate employee performance, based on the ratings of “Exceeded Expectations”, “Met Expectations”, and “Did Not Meet Expectations”.
Competencies refer to observable behaviours that an employee exhibits in their role when applying their knowledge, skills and abilities. To ensure these competencies are applicable to employees’ job roles, varying competency models for frontline employees, professionals and managers have been built for their individual application. To illustrate:
- Frontline employees are customer-centric and team-focused. Hence, the focus for them is to adapt to changes and communicate well to both internal and external customers.
- For professionals, having a business thinking mindset is imperative, so they need to build on their analytical skills and make timely decisions and recommendations.
- As for managers, it is critical for them to be equipped with the ability to lead, influence, inspire, and serve, as well as to cultivate exceptional team performance while ensuring their team members are valued and empowered in their day-to-day responsibilities.
No doubt, this change involved several key considerations, with the most impactful one being to instil a growth mindset that encourages employees to focus on future performance as opposed to reflecting on past performance.
It also came with its own set of challenges, with the main one being to manage this change as well as facilitate it. To address this, the HR team developed a collective approach to help prepare and support all employees through the transformation, ensuring a seamless process from start to end.
The employees responded “very well”, as a result. Tan notes: "We focused on employee engagement and concentrated our efforts on fostering genuine commitment between the manager and employee as we recognise the value in supporting our employees in their learning journeys as they develop and grow professionally. We believe this will, in turn, result in higher levels of productivity by our team members."
Overall, this new system goes hand-in-hand both with FedEx’s rewards framework, and career development framework. Tan highlights: “Building a performance-based work culture not only serves to boost employee morale, productivity, and performance, but also prepares the company for strategic workforce planning. It is especially pivotal for us as industry leaders to look at a blend of individual and organisational components to instil a growth culture for our people to be successful.
"Every employee is given the chance to pursue their dream in FedEx, and support is always readily available to help maximise their potential, through training and development platforms accessible to all."
Words of advice
Like Tan and his team, more leaders are shifting away from “quantitative” rating scales, to a more “qualitative” approach to appraisals. Yet, there are still leaders who prefer the former approach. And as Tan points out, there is no perfect structure to follow, as every approach comes with its unique pros and cons.
Thus, he says, it is more important to look at the direction the organisation is headed and adapt a model that works best for both the employees and the organisation at each stage. "The goal is to move all stakeholders, including employees, in a concerted manner toward our collective goal that serves people growth and business profitability."
At FedEx, this also means that apart from working closely with key stakeholders including but not limited to HR and senior management teams, the management is well supported in performance, development, and management skillsets through avid training programmes.
This encompasses effecting a mindset change by shifting from system-related work to providing resources and tools, to empower managers to conduct effective and meaningful performance & development conversations, build manager-employee relationships, and consistently engage their team members by leveraging coaching and feedback skillsets.
Reflecting on the company’s experience, Tan shares his words of encouragement for employers intending to improve their own performance management processes. "Performance is an ongoing journey, and we need to recognise the importance of continuously looking at improving the overarching employee experience by encouraging ongoing learning and communication rigorously and regularly. In any scenario – whether personal or professional – one should not stop learning, developing and upskilling to make the most of their talents and grow on the right trajectory, thereby bringing value to their teams and peers.
"Human performance is the function of many influences: accountability, feedback, motivation, skills and knowledge, rewards and recognition. These influences are interdependent and ultimately result in the desired performance."
HSBC drives manager-employee ownership of performance & development

Vishesh Dimri, Lead - HR Consulting, HSBC, shares how a focus on digital enablement, process effectiveness, and people manager capabilities helps drive open and honest conversations during feedback, foster stronger relationships, and more.
Banking and financial services firm HSBC focuses on three key pillars in driving the new way of work — digital enablement, process effectiveness, and people manager capabilities.
These pillars are what help ensure a holistic approach towards performance management and enablement for both its employees and managers, Vishesh Dimri, Lead - HR Consulting, HSBC (pictured above, right) shares.
First, as part of digital enablement, HSBC has in place an HR mobile application that allows an "easy and simple" adoption of everyday performance on a real-time basis, where employees and managers are able to capture achievements and share regular, two-way feedback via the use of technology. More than an app, it is "a demonstration of flexible and remote working, without compromising on outcomes or comfort", Dimri highlights.
With this app, employees are able to access an HR to-do list, their everyday performance & development plans, online learning resources (Learning On-the-Go), manage personal and employment information, as well as view real-time people manager dashboards, HSBC connections, and the organisation chart.
Additionally, managers are empowered to handle key approvals on-the-go, as well as manage the personal and job details for direct functional reports.
Next, process effectiveness involves the use of everyday performance principles including goal setting and regular check-ins to facilitate the achievement of career aspirations as well as maintain productivity.
"It fosters stronger relationships between managers and colleagues. Managers can support their team members in the right ways and, at the right times, towards a meaningful year-end assessment," Dimri explains.
Finally, the third pillar of people manager capability is enhanced through constant engagement, coaching, and providing content support such as training and briefings, support resources, and guides.
One of the key elements of HSBC's year-end assessment is the 'Fairness Review', which has in place the following governance processes to ensure it remains unbiased:
- seeking risk stewards’ inputs relating to non-financial performance,
- senior management reporting,
- audit checks, and
- evidence of all Fairness Review meeting discussions.
Dimri and his team also make it a point to support people managers in carrying out these reviews, through scenarios-based, bite-sized videos available via e-learning; briefing sessions; by refining the HSBC values to align with its behaviour rating scale to reflect the focus on Fairness Review, as well as via a continuous feedback tool.
Elaborating on this tool, Dimri shares that the feedback functionality enables employees to give, request and receive feedback. This can be done on a continuous basis — for example, when an employee has completed a key meeting or project milestone — or he/she can request feedback on a specific activity.
"We believe that by receiving feedback from their people manager, team members or colleagues can help each employee to better understand how he/she is progressing against his/her goals and what he/she may need to do differently to be successful in the future."
The process also helps to present evidence of employees' performance & development outcomes for their year-end assessment, wherein f eedback employees receive can flow into their year-end review forms.
"With this tool, feedback can be requested and sent to multiple colleagues at the same time across a wider network. This supports teamwork, collaboration, and agile ways of working," Dimri notes.
Top tips for employers
Having benefitted from this revised performance management process, the leader shares his learnings and words of advice to employers looking to improve their own processes in this area.
First, he shares, managers must focus on everyday performance & development by having simple conversations throughout the year supporting performance, development, and wellbeing.
"A two-way open and honest conversation is the key to successful performance management, developing trusting relationships, and supporting career aspirations."
Next, he notes the importance of recognition in driving successful performance management. "Recognising our people not only for a job well done, but also for effort and even for taking up a challenging or difficult task. In HSBC Singapore, we have 'At Our Best Recognition', an online tool for employees to celebrate colleagues who bring HSBC values to life. The programme helps to promote a better understanding of values in everyday practice and enables a consistent and equal way of recognising people globally."
Last, he also adds that having enabling tools to help support the performance & development conversation is critical. At HSBC Singapore, this involves a continuous performance tool that helps employees to stay connected with their manager and colleagues, anytime, and anywhere, playing an even more critical role with the "majority of the workforce working from home.
This tool lets employees take ownership by:
- Creating and tracking key activities, including regular conversations with managers, at their convenience; and sharing daily key activities with managers and documenting progress.
- Facilitating regular feedback such as conversations that can be initiated by the employee, manager, or colleague to request, give, or receive feedback to recognise positive performance and behaviour or support future improvements.
- Raising a topic for discussion — for example: discuss the strengths & development plan and focus on wellbeing development.
- Capturing achievements — celebrate success and share experiences.
4 key steps to implement a performance management strategy that supports your business objectives
From the Human Capital Implementation Toolkit , we share a snapshot on how employers can work towards a performance management strategy that cultivates the right environment that connects employees with the organisation and motivates them to excel.
Step 1: Set a strategic performance management philosophy
HR plays a strategic role in ensuring that company goals can be met through Human Capital programmes.
- Establish strategic organisational goals with senior leadership, detailing the key thrusts, KPIs and targets needed in the short, medium and long term to support their vision.
Step 2: Cascade and communicate goals
Provide a clear line of sight to create a more engaged and motivated workforce.
- Cascade corporate goals through business units down to individual employees, enabling them to understand how their actions influence the success of the organisation.
- Communicate strategic objectives and how each performance measure supports those objectives.
- Develop training/development plans for employees to achieve the capabilities to reach these goals.
Step 3: Manage performance
Supporting managers as the main link between employee performance and business outcomes.
Differentiate rewards
- Cultivate a strong pay-for-performance culture.
- Communicate the wage structure so employees understand how it impacts them and how to change their behaviours.
- Design discretionary monetary or non-monetary recognition schemes.
Empower managers
- Empower managers to recognise and reward beyond targets and goals.
Reinforce desired behaviours
- Address the past year’s performance gaps and set new goals for the next year.
- Reinforce desired behaviours by recognising, rewarding and cultivating them. Identify role models within the organisation to be champions of certain desired behaviours.
Step 4: Evaluate and reward performance
Managers’ ability to evaluate and reward performance, and optimise touchpoints for growth and learning will be key to the success of this step.
Track performance
- Track performance against targets and schedule periodic performance reviews.
- Seek timely and multiple sources of performance feedback, e.g., managers, peers, customers, etc. to provide a fair and holistic assessment.
Equip and train managers to
- Drive and evaluate performance.
- Coach poor performers.
- Conduct performance conversations.
Conduct performance conversations regularly at meaningful points
- These allow managers to manage employee expectations, identify performance gaps, address performance concerns, discuss future growth plans, and enable employees to voice their opinions.
While systems and practices are essential, a key differentiator for an effective performance management practice is the alignment between culture, values and systems. This involves establishing an organisational culture that provides steadfast support to employees in their personal learning and development that views every touchpoint as a growth opportunity.
The performance management process should not be solely centred on employees’ past contributions but perform as future-focused stay conversations that support and engage employees in ways to grow, learn and improve.
FedEx Singapore and HSBC are Human Capital Partners in the Human Capital Partnership Programme .
The Human Capital Partnership (HCP) Programme is a tripartite initiative that brings together a community of exemplary employers in Singapore who have progressive employment practices in their organisations and are committed to developing their human capital.
Photos: Provided (L-R Eric Tan, MD, FedEx Singapore, and Vishesh Dimri, Lead - HR Consulting, HSBC)
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Follow us on Telegram and on Instagram @humanresourcesonline for all the latest HR and manpower news from around the region!
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